Throughfall quality and quantity in polluted and damaged ecosystems in Northern Bohemia

✍ Scribed by Štěpán Růžička

• Book ID: 104782517
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 724 KB
• Volume: 83
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0049-6979
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00477353

✦ Synopsis

The interaction between high concentrations of polluting gases (SO2 and NO~) and damaged forest ecosystems was observed by studying throughfall precipitation in the Erzegebirge Mountains, Northern Bohemia. Qualitative and quantitative data on throughfall for the period November 1989 -October 1990 are presented. Weighted averages of SO ]-and NO 3 concentrations in the throughfall were 23.05 mg L -l and 13.61 mg L -1 in a beech and 34.41 mg L -1 and 11.03 mg L -1 in a spruce forest respectively. Three variables (the molar ratios of K/Na, Ntot/S and N-NO3/N-NH4) were used to compare the spruce throughfall quality to that observed in areas with similar however, less damaged spruce stands. Both K/Na and N-NO3/N-NH4 ratios clearly decreased with increasing tree damage, the Ntot/S ratio increased. The results suggest that the throughfall in damaged ecosystems of the Erzegebirge region becomes more like a wet precipitation as the tree canopies get sparser and the trees reduce canopy leaching.